Dear Olszewski:

As you are an old friend of mine, I believe that you will fulfill my request and publish these few words in your newspaper Lietuva.

Last week I was asked to be a godfather for Anton Zemaitis' infant, 3216 South Morgan street. We took the infant to the Lithuanian church, where Rev. Krawczunas is the rector, to baptize it. The rector's assistant. Rev. Steponaviczius, came to baptize the infant. The priest looked straight into my eyes and said: "You are an infidel, you have not performed the Easter confession this year and for this reason you cannot hold this infant at baptism; give the infant to a vestryman to hold, and you back away."

When I heard the priest's remark against me I was unable to understand what was the matter with the priest. Did God cover the eyes of the priest with smoke or turn his brains upside down? I was wondering why the priest did not recognize me.

I answered him: "Go and look in your books, then ask me if I performed the confession or not."

Then the priest left all of us waiting in the church, went to the rectory to search in the book to see if I performed the confession. After an hour the priest returned, said nothing, and baptized the infant.

You have said truly in No. 32 of Lietuva,"whom God wants to punish, He takes away his reason."

It seems that God already took away the reason from the priests, as punishment for their improper action, for not recognizing even his best parishioners. Imagine the priest does not remember me now, while with other members of St. George society I performed the Easter confession. He does not recognize them who bought the dishes for the altar, the chalice, cases for the sick persons, and donated many dollars for the church. He does not recognize them who were the first organizers of this parish; even Rev. Krawczunas wrote our names in the book, when he issued the statement in 1895.

Today they are chasing me away from the same church to which I have donated many ten-dollar bills. I donated to the church then, when Rev. Krawczunas was butting letters with a pencil at his father's home in Szunskai (name of town in Lithuania).

Where is the truth? When one looks at the priests of such conduct, one must sigh and say: "God forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing!"

Simonas Leliaszius,

650 S. Canal street, Chicago.